Cop Suspended For Fatal Crash

Mundelein — A Mundelein police officer has been suspended for 25 days without pay for violating departmental policy when his squad car collided with another car last May, killing a motorist.

Village prosecutor Charles W. Smith had charged that Officer Mark Parrish violated departmental guidelines when he drove his squad car last May 10 into the intersection of Illinois Highway 83 and U.S. Highway 45. He was on an emergency call when his car collided with a car driven by 38-year-old Kris Lemmon of Long Grove.

Smith told the Mundelein Police and Fire Commission that Parrish, a four-year veteran, was driving at an excessive rate of speed when he went through a red light and collided with Lemmon's car. That, Smith said, violated the departmental policy saying an officer may proceed only after making sure that all other vehicles have yielded the right of way.

Parrish's attorney, James DeSanto, argued that the department guidelines for such pursuit leave much up to an officer's discretion. DeSanto also told the commission that the other cars at the intersection saw the squad car and stopped. Lemmon did not, DeSanto said.